One takeaway: While first generation Chinese-Americans tended to pass along any extra money onto their children, later generations are focusing more of their giving outside the family — mostly towards education-oriented concerns, according to the foundation’s reportreleased Thursday.

One twist to the study was that privacy was of great concern to the participants — even to some who are longtime donors.

“The discussion of money is a very private conversation,” said the Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s Diane Lai.

Or as the study said:

Participants noted that Chinese culture is not thought of as passing down a visible philanthropic tradition. In some of their families, money is not an acceptable topic of conversation, and displaying signs of wealth, including by giving it away publicly, was considered inappropriate. Participants noted that this tradition makes it difficult to accurately characterize the community’s philanthropic engagement.

Still, here are some other takeaways from the study, which was based on in-depth interviews with 32 Chinese-American philanthropists living in the Bay Area:

* Family and gratitude are key. A main reason people give back is “in appreciation for the good fortune they have experienced and to acknowledge the support they received along the way… Supporting the organizations and individuals that helped them or their parents and grandparents to succeed enables those entities to continue helping others in the future.”

* Education is top of mind. “Education is a nearly universal theme among Chinese American donors in the Bay Area who participated in this study, understandably so in light of their belief in its importance to their personal achievements” the study said. Many also gave to organizations which promoted Chinese culture.

* Giving back to the mother country. Some of the first-generation folks in the study gave some of their money back to their home country, whether it was mainland China or elsewhere. As the study said, “These individuals described personally witnessing the needs of minority and rural populations, especially children. They felt compelled to do something concrete to help the next generations.” Second-generation folks were more focused on U.S. philanthropy.

* Arts giving is popular. Many gave to organizations which promote Chinese culture.

While the study was based on a small sample size, the foundation’s Dipti Pratt said it provided insights into a community whose giving trends are still being discovered. “You can’t service donors if you don’t understand them,” she said.

A bit more on the demographics of those interviewed, from the study:

The vast majority of participants (82 percent) traced their family roots to Mainland China; 12 percent were from Taiwan and 6 percent were from Hong Kong. More than half (55 percent) were born in the U.S., and the rest were roughly evenly divided among Hong Kong (9 percent), Mainland China (12 percent), Taiwan (15 percent), and all other countries (9 percent).